Download the Conservation Area Design for the Muskwa-Kechika Management Area
The Muskwa-Kechika Management Area (MKMA) is an area of 63,000 km2 (6.3 million hectares) lying in north-eastern British Columbia. This area of the Northern Rockies is one of North
America's last remaining large wilderness areas south of the 60th parallel. The MKMA was established through three Land and Resource Management Plans (LRMPs) for the Fort St. John
and Fort Nelson areas in 1997 and Mackenzie LRMP in 2001. The management intent for the area, as articulated in the Muskwa-Kechika Management Area Act is,
to maintain in perpetuity the wilderness quality, and the diversity and abundance of wildlife and the ecosystems on which it depends while allowing resource development
and use in parts of the Muskwa-Kechika Management Area designated for those purposes including recreation, hunting, trapping, timber harvesting, mineral
exploration and mining, oil and gas exploration and development. The MKMA is comprised of a mosaic of protected areas totaling approximately 1.7 million
hectares (ha) or 27% of the area. Special management zones and special wildland zones, where various forms of resource development are permitted, total approximately 4.6 million ha, or 73%
of the area. Access to the area is managed under a special permitting arrangement. The Muskwa-Kechika lies within the traditional territory of the Kaska Dena First Nation, Tsay Kay Dena, and
Treaty 8 Nations, including the Halfway River, Prophet River, and Fort Nelson First Nations.
South of the BC-Yukon border and north of BC's central interior, between expansive boreal and taiga plains to the east and coastal mountain ranges to the west, the larger study area for the MK
CAD is anchored by the Northern Rocky Mountains and their intersection with the Muskwa Plateau. The Muskwa Ranges form the headwaters of the Prophet, Muskwa, Toad,
and Sikanni Chief Rivers, which flow into the Laird River and eventually to the MacKenzie River and the Arctic. Farther west, the Kechika River drains into the Northern Rocky Mountain Trench,
dividing the Muskwa Ranges from the Cassiar and Kechika Ranges. The westerly boundary encompasses the headwaters of the Stikine River taking form in the Southern Boreal Plateau. To
the south, are the mountains of the Northern Omineca, while on the southeastern slopes of the study area, the Muskwa Range and foothills transition to the Misinchinka Range and foothills of
the Peace Valley.
One of the key challenges for the MK Advisory Board was articulating a vision for the future of the MKMA that would guide the pace, scope and intensity of resource development in such a
way that wilderness and wildlife values could be maintained. To inform these discussions, in 2001, the MK Advisory Board initiated a Conservation Area Design scoping project to explore the
potential for a regional assessment of conservation values across the MKMA. Following this scoping study, the usefulness of a CAD was confirmed and a contract request for proposals
released, which included the following deliverables:
a key conservation biology Toolkit to assist in on-going planning and management
issues, and a framework for developing direct links between regional and landscapelevel
objectives;
a tool to provide strategic information to ongoing government planning processes, for
example, pre-tenure planning for oil and gas development; and,
a dynamic modeling element that can examine changes to the landscape over time,
whether through natural or human developments.
In October 2002, a team led by Nature Conservancy Canada together with Round River Conservation Studies and Dovetail Consulting Inc. was awarded the contract. The MK CAD
project was launched in January 2003 and was completed in August of 2004.
